The attention to detail within the sound effects is unparalleled by other Nintendo games. Within one level alone, this being the Deep Sea mission, I counted at least four different noises your feet make while walking on the ground, depending on the surface. There’s one noise for while you’re walking on metal vent-like surfaces, another for the regular old hallways, yet another for a muddy type ground, and finally a fourth while trouncing through large puddles. For all I know, there may have been even more, too. It truly is astounding how much attention has went into this, for it plays into the game play too, since the foot noises may be what tip you off to an enemy trying to sneak up behind you during your missions.

An additional example of something that wowed me occurred while Elvis was speaking when you meet up with him during the Attack Ship mission. One time, he started speaking to me, and while he was speaking to me, I began walking away from him. To my astonishment and amazement, his voice got softer and less distinguishable as I got further away from him. An effect like this was simply unexpected; in most N64 games his voice would have remained the same volume now matter my distance from him.

Another aspect of the games’ sound effects that is equally well crafted into this gem is the noises that the weapons make. From the benign hiss of the Farsight, Phoenix, and other alien fodder, to the malevolent roar of the cyclone and other highly automatic weapons, the noises the guns make are of high quality, and quite distinguishable in sounds. Plus, because Perfect Dark is in complete surround sound, you’ll be able to enjoy listening to a blast of a Callisto NTG roar by your left ear, or a grenade explode gloriously 10 feet behind you. In addition, other sound effects such as glass shattering and fuses buzzing, sound equally lifelike, and add to the joys of using surround sound.

However, the aspect of the sound that best creates atmosphere within the game has got to be the voice samples. Where as in Goldeneye, in which the world was silent, Perfect Dark has life to it. Enemies have a large variety of responses when they see you, such as, "please, don't kill me,” “I don’t believe it,” “somebody shoot her,” or “it’s an intruder.” If an enemy sees you, he may call for cover, saying stuff such as, “cover my ass.” What’s neat is that when multiple enemies are in one room, they act upon what has been said, so if someone shouts about retreating, you can bet that he will make an effort to retreat, and perhaps with other soldiers joining him. Furthermore, it is stirring to here some of the things that guards say after you have shot them, which include, “why me?”, “you bitch,” “shit,” or, “I have family…” Some of the funniest, and most pleasing lines in the game though, come from what Elvis says. In a certain mission in which Elvis provides you with back up, it is very amusing to here him shout lines such as, “kiss my alien ass.” There are a ton of voice samples that you will here within the missions, and fortunately they are as crisp as you’ll hear on any N64 game; none of that tinny effect that other many other N64 games seem to possess. This whole paragraph, I’ve written on the in-game voice, but that is only a small fraction of the voice samples, because the cinemas before and after missions also pack speech too, with that fun little English-accent. The voice acting is generally great, but in a few instances it does sound a little bit cheesy.

Continue on to page numero 6, about the weapons...